Sophie Lancaster: Writers can expose the brutal prejudices that lead to murder

The Royal Festival Hall is staging a play about the murder of Sophie
Lancaster. Alan Gibbons explains why his new novel, Hate, can help by
exposing the vicious prejudices that led to her death of in 2007

On August 11 2007 a group of young men assaulted Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend Rob in Stubbylee Park, Bacup, Lancashire. Sophie would later die from her injuries in hospital. All murders are tragic and cruel. This horrific crime was utterly senseless. The couple was attacked because Sophie and Rob were: “moshers, freaks, weirdos”. Sophie died for no reason other than the way she chose to express her identity through her clothes and personal style.

The murder led to a campaign S.O.P.H.I.E (Stop Oppression, Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere), driven with enormous courage and energy by Sophie’s mother Sylvia. Two factors have attracted writers to this story: the exceptional cruelty and meaninglessness of the crime and Sylvia’s indomitable pursuit of justice for Sophie by exposing the ignorance and hatred that led to her death.

I heard Sylvia speak to teachers at a conference in Yorkshire a couple of years ago and approached her afterwards, asking if I could write a novel inspired by the events. She told me that Simon Armitage had written a stage play, Black Roses. I went to see it at the Manchester Exchange last year. It is now coming to the Southbank Centre in London on March 24. Black Roses is a stunning piece of work; lyrical, unblinking and harrowing. Simon had set a high bar for all artistic responses to the crime. There has also been a second play, Porcelain, written by Ian Kershaw for the BBC.

Going to see Black Roses only confirmed my determination to write a novel about the events. The legal process fell far short of justice for Sophie’s family. Sylvia’s witness statement did not get the full public airing it deserved. Novelists, playwrights and poets have little real power. What we can do is testify. We can introduce the public to the issues involved in this killing and help to expose the brutal and vicious prejudices that still linger in our society and that ultimately took Sophie’s life.

Sophie Lancaster, who was murdered by thugs in 2007 PA WIRE

My forthcoming novel Hate, published on April 10, takes up the baton. The facts of the case are laid out as accurately as I have been able, but in the context of a work of fiction. Sophie becomes Rosie. Her invented younger sister Eve is trying to come to terms with her sister’s death when a new boy starts at her school. He was a witness to the murder and failed to intervene to prevent it. He was a Bad Samaritan. My novel can’t give Sophie justice. Maybe, in concert with other artistic representations of the case, fit can help lay out the truth.